We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Celeste Godoy. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Celeste below.
Hi Celeste, thanks for joining us today. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?
Yes, I have been able to earn a full-time living from my creative work and it’s been a process to get to this point. I initially came to New York to take photography classes and my goal was to find a job where creativity was the focus. After a few freelancing jobs as a photographer, I was lucky enough to run into a professional real estate photographer who hired me to do real estate photography for the company he was managing back then. He taught me everything about real estate photography and how to present myself as a photographer in this field. After 3 years, he decided to move to another city, and at the same time the company I used to work for was going through a lot of changes, so I felt it was time for me to move on and create something that allowed me to have more control over both my work and time.
It may sound simple now, but it really wasn’t. I didn’t have any idea of what or how to do it and of course the uncertainty was huge and scary.
Luckily, though, André, my husband, who had also recently quit his job, suggested we should start our own real estate and interior design photography business. He is an artist as well – a musician – but also an amateur photographer so in many ways we speak the same language, even though he had no experience in real estate photography at all. It was crazy and overwhelming back then but we started to take one step at a time to build our business.
Looking back now, I don’t think I could have sped up the process of becoming a photographer; each stage requires its own time and every past experience was necessary. Even my experience in my ‘old life’ in Argentina as a lawyer has an influence on how we run the business and handle everything on a daily basis. However, it is a continuous learning experience and we believe that everything we learn will help to shape the future of our company.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
I am originally from Argentina and came to New York 5 years ago because I wanted to create a new lifestyle where creativity would be the central focus. Back in my country I used to be a lawyer for 13 years plus 4 prior years as a paralegal (during my college years), so that’s almost 20 years in the law field and I really needed a change. I got to the point I was tired of the non-stop work under pressure, deadlines, justice system, bureaucracy etc. I just felt it wasn’t for me anymore.
Many years ago I also studied Social Anthropology which gave me awareness and made me question my own reality; it was a real game changer in my life. I was in my forties already, going through a period of big changes in my personal life, and needed to try something completely new and see what opportunities I could find elsewhere. I couldn’t keep doing the same things I was doing until then, something had to change. It was hard because I had a very good job as a lawyer and the future looked even better back then.
In that context, I visited New York in 2016 and 2017 and loved it, I felt so inspired and motivated! It felt so familiar!
Around the same time I was starting to take some private photography classes in my country, just as a hobby and a break from my lawyer work, and I started to like it.
After a while, feeling that dissatisfaction even more intensely, I decided that it was enough; I just couldn’t keep doing the same stuff. But I didn’t know what to do: just quit my job and what else?
So I thought that if I was looking for such a big change and a new life, I had to be brave and take a leap of faith. I came across some Ted talks that were really inspiring and helped push me forward. I had no idea what direction I wanted to go, tough, but I was sure it had to be something related to creativity. I was only sure about two things: I loved NY and I was loving photography so far.
So I finally organized myself and decided to come to NY to take photography courses at the ICP (International Center of Photography) as a starting point, but told myself I had to be open to any opportunities and experiences that life could present me with as a consequence of my choices. Since I couldn’t decide what to do, I thought I had to let the universe show me what else I could do.
I didn’t know anyone here and one of my biggest fears was whether I would end up meeting good people – I wondered if I’d have any luck on that level. But as soon as I got here I met some great people who became my friends/family and helped me a lot to navigate my experience here.
I started with photography courses, getting to know people, learning how this city and the art world move, while at the same time doing freelance jobs such as photographing small parties, models during the fashion week, food for a delivery app and graduations in schools – always in the photography field.
I think NY is very friendly and welcoming when you are in need to explore or discover new opportunities because you have so much information on hand and networking possibilities. I was able to discover a lot of programs, people and organizations where you can learn how to be an artist, how to create and manage your career as an artist. If you are curious enough and have the initiative, you will find the answers. I am not saying it is easy because it is not; it can certainly be very frustrating because it is not your country, your culture, your language, but you have to persevere, have consistency, be emotionally strong and not afraid of asking questions, be able to meet people all the time, and be open minded. Eventually you will find so many different worlds inside the same city!
Just when I was really in need of steady work, a photographer friend of mine told me that she met this other photographer by chance who happened to offer her a job as a real estate photographer. She wasn’t able to do it, so she introduced me to him – Ryan Lahiff, a professional architecture and real estate photographer. After an interview and some training, I started to do freelance work for the company he was managing.
I remember being very afraid and telling him in the interview that I wanted to be honest with him, that I didn’t know much about real estate or interior design photography at all, it wasn’t the kind of photography I did, but he was very confident I could do it and told me not to be worry and that he’d train me. And that was it. He taught me everything I know about real estate photography and to this day he keeps helping and pushing me forward.
I never thought or even paid attention to architecture or interior design photography in my life, but it didn’t take long until I discovered it’s my thing and I absolutely love doing it everyday. From the very beginning as a photographer I loved telling stories with my photos, showing people and their social contexts. And this is also a way to tell my own stories. In fact, my documentary projects talk exactly about that: my experience as an immigrant who tries to build a new life in New York.
After 3 years since I had started working for that company, Ryan decided to move to another city and, at the same time, some changes were being made in the company so I once again felt like I needed a change and wanted to have more control over my work and time. But again, what to do? How to do it?
It was in that moment that my husband André suggested we should start our own business together. It was very scary and overwhelming – not knowing what could happen, if we would be able to manage a business and make a living of it. But at that moment I remembered my thoughts from when I moved to New York: I had to be open to the opportunities, that’s the only way to discover it. André has a similar story; he is from Brazil, has been living here for a long time and faced similar situations in the past. We joined forces and are now putting our focus and energy in our own project.
Basically, our business consists of taking photographs of houses and apartments when the real estate brokers need to list them for rent or sale. We also work for interior designers, stagers and contractors who need to photograph their designs. Some of them want to show the before and after of a renovation, for instance. Other clients are organizations that need to document their buildings, designs, constructions etc with photos.
My part in the business is to take the pictures and handle relationship with clients, while my husband André takes care of the post production process that involves a big retouching and staging team, delivery of the pictures and managing the finances and bookkeeping.
As a complement, we offer floor plan drawings done by architects, and also virtual staging which is the process of virtually adding furniture and decor in empty properties, or even virtually renovate the furniture and decor of a house, replacing any existing furniture and decor for a more modern and up-to-date design.
Our business is very personal since I am the only photographer at the moment, and we like to keep it that way as that allows us to have a personal approach with each and every project. We do our best to make sure our clients are fully satisfied, but it’s also very important that both of us are completely happy with the final result as we take great pleasure in delivering products that are nothing short of excellent. We want to see great pictures of the properties, and they must be beautiful. Of course it depends on the property – great decor and design do make our job easier, but our goal is to make every property look their best.
As a photographer, I do my best to take care of every detail in every photoshoot and I also like to work with the client. It is important to me to know what the clients really need, what their vision of the space is and what kind of story they would like to tell with the pictures. It doesn’t matter if the property is for sale or rent, if it is staged or occupied by someone, I want the pictures to show the best of the apartment/house. I love to see good, beautiful pictures, and for that to happen great attention to detail is required.
There are some challenges of course, as it is very common that I have to take pictures in properties occupied by a tenant or owner who is actually living there, so they don’t look ready to be photographed. Or sometimes the properties don’t have a view or natural light at all, or any of those details that everyone want to see in a property. However, I still always believe that every property has something to show and be highlighted.
Since from the beginning, one of the things that amazed me the most was the opportunity to see how people build their home and life. I always try to find the best details and special spots to highlight, and sometimes I use this exercise where I imagine myself living there and where I’d set up the dining area or living room, for example – I let the property talk to me. It’s a very good exercise to find the right angle and the picture that I need to capture. Sometimes it’s just a corner with a chair and a bookshelf next to a window, sometimes an arch that shows a beautiful frame and other details. Those details are the ones that show the property’s “spirit”, energy and character.
Another very important aspect of our business is the relationships we build and cultivate with our clients, as we truly care about having a good environment at work despite our hectic day-to-day schedules.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
It is really great to see something you created in the hands of other professionals, and how we somehow help them take their own work to the next level. And, as a byproduct of all that, you also get to develop long-standing relationships with some really wonderful people.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.
I believe that there is a misconception that it is not possible to have an income from creativity or art. Or that if you are able to do it, the income is not enough to allow you to have a comfortable lifestyle, so there is always this underlying fear. In my experience, I kept asking myself and reflecting on how I was going to have an income from something related to art, but tried to find answers without noticing that my thought process was not correct. I had no idea about any art or creative work, or how many possibilities I could have in the creativity field. So when things started to unfold they kind of guided my path, and it was a very similar process with the business. When André and I decided to start our business, we only had a few certainties but were confident that we could learn and work hard to make it happen. So we had to learn to see photography, business and our own reality from a new perspective.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.celestegodoy.com
- Instagram: @cgph_nyc